One of the world’s most connected people on LinkedIn, Stan Relihan, believes that the iPhone will drive podcasts like never before, especially in business, to the benefit of everyone, according to ITWire on Monday.

"The new media and in particular Podcasts are high on people’s agendas as one of the new technologies that people are discovering. And that’s not surprising given the fact that now the iPhone has been launched," said headhunter Stan Relihan. He’s ranked #40 of the most connected people on LinkedIn.

Mr. Relihan believes that the podcast is about using social networking for business benefit. While the podcasting phenomenon was launched by the Apple iPod, the expansion of the iPod featured to the iPhone, especially amongst businessmen, will lead to an explosion of popularity.

"It’s all very well to have fun and make friends but unless there’s a business value add, what’s the point?" Mr. Relihan asked. "It’s not just about LinkedIn because I’ve talked to people who have used LinkedIn and other social networks to ask where’s the business benefit that you’ve received from this? It’s all about how do we use the Internet to create a business benefit."

For example, of his 16,000 LinkedIn connections, he gets 12,000 downloads of his semimonthly podcast The Connections Show. In his last podcast, the social networking guru used his network to assist with selling his new book.

Mr. Relihan believes that putting the iPhone in the hands of senior executives will allow them to communicate, podcast, and develop business liaisons like never before.

Others have noticed this trend. This time around, the IT managers may not have the same sway as they did with the Macs. A chief executive with an iPhone in his hand is an irresistible force for a normally immovable IT staff.